Jim Wayne Miller (1936-1996), a native of the mountain country of North Carolina, was a professor of German language and literature at Western Kentucky University for thirty-three years. He served as a consultant to Appalachian studies programs in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio and was a visiting professor of Appalachian studies at what is now the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College. He received multiple awards, and his books include Copperhead Cane; Dialogue with a Dead Man; The Mountains Have Come Closer; Vein of Words; Nostalgia for 70; Brier, His Book; Newfound; and His First, Best Country.